Back to Africa Check

No, photos of plane on truck snapped in Nigeria, not Uganda

Two photos posted on Facebook on 13 July 2021 show a large object covered with fabric on a flatbed truck parked on the side of a road.

“Uganda airlines pilot has abandoned the plane after a traffic officer asked him for a driving permit,” the caption reads.

The photos were posted on a page with more than 200,000 followers. But what do they really show?

UgandaPlane_False

Wingless plane being transported from Lagos to Abuja

A Google reverse image search of the photos reveals that they started circulating online in Nigeria in October 2020.

We found a YouTube video uploaded on 17 October 2020, which shows a truck carrying a plane in Nigeria’s Edo state. The Nairaland Forum and Coolval.com discussion websites also posted similar videos and photos, on the same day.

The plane, which “had its wings cut off”, was being transported from Lagos to Abuja, according to Coolval.com.

The photos were taken in Edo state, Nigeria, in October 2020 – not in Uganda in 2021.

Republish our content for free

Please complete this form to receive the HTML sharing code.

For publishers: what to do if your post is rated false

A fact-checker has rated your Facebook or Instagram post as “false”, “altered”, “partly false” or “missing context”. This could have serious consequences. What do you do?

Click on our guide for the steps you should follow.

Publishers guide

Africa Check teams up with Facebook

Africa Check is a partner in Meta's third-party fact-checking programme to help stop the spread of false information on social media.

The content we rate as “false” will be downgraded on Facebook and Instagram. This means fewer people will see it.

You can also help identify false information on Facebook. This guide explains how.

Add new comment

Restricted HTML

  • Allowed HTML tags: <a href hreflang> <em> <strong> <cite> <blockquote cite> <code> <ul type> <ol start type> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <h2 id> <h3 id> <h4 id> <h5 id> <h6 id>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.
limit: 600 characters

Want to keep reading our fact-checks?

We will never charge you for verified, reliable information. Help us keep it that way by supporting our work.

Become a newsletter subscriber

Support independent fact-checking in Africa.